Happy Tuesday, everyone. Today's Maintenance will actually be pretty painless for most of us. The servers will go down at 5am PDT, about half an hour from now, and should be up by 5:30, according to Bornakk. Aussie servers won't be going down until 5 AM AEST. However, there are a few servers that are getting some extra downtime. They will be going down until approximately 6:30 AM PDT. You can find can a list of the affected servers on the downtime post.

Even if most of us will be cruising past maintenance with minimal downtime, Tuesday morning's as good a time as any to get caught up on WoW news. The biggest news, of course, is that Season 4 is on the way, coming to us on June 24th. Read all about it here, then find out everything you need to know to get started with Season 4 at WoW Insider, starting with these articles:

• If you're still grinding honor for a Season 1 gear set, you better work fast -- or get a tier 4 raiding group.
• If you're unsure of how to start planning for Season 4, let Zach help you out.
• Don't PvP? You might want to take an interest in Season 4 anyway. It may turn out to be rather lucrative for you.
• Will the new gear ratings put the kibosh on point selling? Zach doesn't think so.
• Watch for more Season 4 news and analysis to come as the start date gets closer!

It's also worth noting that the other big WoW news story this week was the oceanic PvE to PvP transfers. Not only is this the first time it's happened in 2 years, but Drysc seems to indicate that they may go even further. You can also find out how some of Thaurissan's new denizens are settling in in this week's Gamers on the Street.

Of course, even all this PvP news can't put a damper on our enthusiasm for expansion news. Here's the latest from the WoTLK front:

• For a peek at what Shamans are getting in WoTLK, let's go to Koraa with the Shaman forecast!
• Thanks Koraa. Now here's Alex with more about Shamans.
• The latest Alpha build featured a bit of tinkering to combat stats and spellpower.
• The lore team took a page out of Norse mythology, introducing a new creature for us to fight called the Jormungar.
• Just in case you were holding out, Drysc says that there probably won't be a price drop for epic flight any time soon.

Other news around the web this week includes a comparison between playing WoW and watching porn, and that's just for starters.

• So, which is more shameful: Porn, or playing WoW? Dr. Jerald Block discusses the nature and challenges of MMORPG addiction.
• And while we're on the subject of porn, why don't we see what Shifting Perspectives has to say about poledancing?
• But seriously, most WoW players are perfectly happy and socially well-adjusted people, and we have the study to prove it.
• Coming this July, Blizzard and Activision will finalize their merger if all goes well. What does it mean for both companies, and for the games they produce?
• Will WoTLK be the savior of PC Gaming? Valve's Gabe Newell thinks so.
• Is Warcraft IV coming sometime in the future? Rob Pardo isn't ruling it out.
• Ever wanted to grind honor while waiting for your plane to land? Intel is working to make it happen.
• Have you noticed Wowhead's new bells and whistles yet? If not, let us walk you through them.
• If you're a gamer, you probably know about Spore. However, if you thought you could use Spore as a way to escape your Murloc overlords, you thought wrong.
• It was Father's Day this past Sunday, and we had a retrospective on some of the fathers of Warcraft lore. If one of your favorites didn't make the list, maybe they'll make it next year.

As always, keep it here throughout the day the even more WoW news, views, and guides, and we'll see you in game on the other side of today's nice and short maintenance.

Tags: maintenance, porn, scheduled-downtime, scheduled-maintenance, season-4, server-maintenance, tuesday, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post, wotlk-news

Filed under: Realm Status, News items